MAC2602 Exam Summary Notes 2021

2017

,Study Guide One
Part 1 : Strategy and strategic planning
Topic 1 : Development of the organisation’s strategy
Study Unit 1 : Defining concepts – mission,core values,vision,strategy and strategic objectives

 Mission - core purpose
Effective mission statement :
 Inspire change ,but does not change
 Long-term in nature
 Easy to understand and easy to communicate

 Core values - principles that guide the organisation
 Vision - defines direction for the future
 Strategy – choosing long-term strategies to achieve purpose set out in mission statement
Three generally accepted competitive strategies :
 Cost leadership strategy
 Pricing strategy :
 Price skimming
 Selective pricing
 Market pricing
 Predatory (penetration) pricing
 Differentiation
Elements of strategy :
 Choice of activities which provide a competitive advantage
 Trade-offs made to choose specific actions
 Activities chosen must fit one another
 Major structural changes can change strategies,however cannot be constantly
reinvented
 Formulation should display a broad conceptual knowledge of the operating
environment of the organisation
 Core values are taken into account
 Strategic objectives – measures to progress and targets to achieve in a specific time frame
Characteristics :
 Precise formulation of goals to be achieved
 Contains a measure of progress
 Contains a target to be achieved
 Contains a time frame for target to be achieved
SMART criteria :
 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Relevant
 Time-bound

,Study Unit 2 : Key stakeholders : roles,conflict and influences

 Stakeholders – those persons and organisations that are affected by the organisation's
activities and who have an interest in the strategy of the organisation.
 Classification of stakeholders :
 Primary Stakeholders (have a contractual relationship)
 Internal Stakeholders
o Managers
o Employees
 Connected Stakeholders
o Shareholders/owners
o Banks and lenders
o Suppliers
o Customers
 Secondary Stakeholders (do not have a contractual relationship)
 External Stakeholders
o Government
o Local authorities
o Professional bodies
o Pressure groups
o Community at large



 Possible conflicts between the expectations of the different types of stakeholders -
shareholders/owners expect a specific return on their investment whilst employees expect
security of their jobs and job satisfaction.
 Influence of different stakeholders on development of organisation strategy :
 Dependency
 Degrees of power
 Level of interest

, Study Unit 3 : Factors that influence the development of an organisation’s strategy

 Influence of Factors in the external environment :
 Political (including legal) environment
 Economic environment
 Social environment (sustainability and ethics)
 Technological environment
 Competitive Environment (operating) :
 Customer position
Purpose of a competitor analysis :
o Study the market,trends and patterns
o Predict and forecast an organisation’s demand and supply
o Formulate a strategy
o Increase the market share
o Develop a strategy for organisation growth
o Plan for diversification and expansion
o Study forthcoming trends in the industry
 Customer base
 Suppliers
 Creditors
 Labour market
 Influence of factors in the internal environment :
 Corporate culture (shared beliefs,values and symbols)
 Organisation leadership (executives and managers)
 Human resource policies (formal decisions)
 Industrial relations (Labour relations)
 Controls at organisation level (such as code of conduct)